From the Chair

Greetings from San Luis Obispo!

The 2015-16 academic year was one of opportunities for our department and students. In November, I accompanied our dean and a political science colleague to Beijing, China, where we explored possible partnerships and exchanges with Chinese universities. While these partnerships are still in the embryonic stages, we hope that they will produce opportunities for Cal Poly English majors and faculty to study and teach in China.

Our students, too, traveled extensively this year. In this newsletter, you’ll read about one major who spent his winter break volunteering in a refugee shelter in Cyprus and another who participated in a national conference promoting Hispanic American legislation issues. Additionally, you’ll read about the creation of a new scholarship helping English majors and minors to study abroad — the Dorothy Cooper Memorial Scholarship — and will meet the three inaugural recipients of this award. All of these student opportunities were created by the generous support of alumni like you, and on behalf of the English Department, I thank you.

I hope you enjoy our annual newsletter, filling you in on other happenings in the department. Let us know what you think by posting to our Alumni Facebook page. And please keep in touch—nothing pleases us more than to hear from former students!